Foot Soldiers
by RaeEcho
Summary: Sometimes people take the Providence grunts for granted. Not many realize what they go through. No powers, no swords, just normal people. Trying their best to do a job that nobody wants, and sometimes they get hurt. Travis learns this the hard way.


A/N- This idea just struck me when I was browsing the Generator Rex Archive. Enjoy! (By the way, I'm just going to assume that Providence training takes two to three years.)

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><p>It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was lost. How could something like this happen?<p>

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. The metal back was freezing my skin through my thin white T-shirt. The hospital room was cold, like you would expect from a hospital, but that wasn't what was chilling me to my core.

I picked my head up from where it was resting in my palms and risked another glance at my best friend. Most of his torso was wrapped in thick white bandages, along with arms, head, and god knows what else. Blood was even starting to show through the wrappings in places. His short dirty blond hair was clean, but matted in places, and he was pale, paler than anyone should be. He could have been mistaken for dead, except his chest was rising and falling slowly. Plus, the ever present heart monitor's rhythmic beeping reminded me that my friend was still alive.

I sighed and bowed my head again; I had been waiting for hours for my friend to wake up, at first in the waiting room of the hospital during his operation, and then in his room afterwards. The strange game of musical chairs I had been playing with the hospital had ended hours ago, when I took my seat next to his bed.

I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I fought them back. If Jonas woke up and saw me crying by his sick bed, he would never let it go. That was of course, if he actually woke up.

I clutched my fists around Jonas's mask. I had been holding it since the doctors handed to me before his surgery. His standard issue, white Providence mask, complete with matching black goggles. I had one too, but it didn't mean the same thing to me as it did him. I never understood it completely, but Jonas had always been so damned proud of his mask...

_"We passed!" Jonas yelled loudly. He effectively scared me to death with his outburst, and earned us a few curious glances from the other students. Only Jonas could be that excited over passing a test. Of course, the test in question determined if we could begin our training as Providence agents, but still..._

_"Geez, there is no need to scream." I yelled back as I massaged my ear. Of course, he ignored me anyway and continued to jump down the hall, singing and celebrating as he went. I finally had enough and I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to our dorm room._

_"You're no fun!" He mocked and he flopped down on his bed, after I pushed him into our room._

_"I'm fun; I just don't see the need to make a fool of myself." I replied in mock annoyance, I was, actually, just as happy as Jonas._

_"Are you implying that I was making a fool of myself?" He asked, clearly joking around._

_"You still are!" I supplied helpfully and I stuck my tongue out at him for good measure._

_He made a face at me and rolled his eyes. "Some friend you are." He huffed, and he lied back on his bed, resting his arms under his head, and started to stare at the ceiling with a blank look. I could tell he was in deep thought; it was as if a realization suddenly dawned on him. His blank look shifted into a serious one._

_"Hey, I didn't mean it. Are you okay?" I asked and I walked over to him and poked him a couple of times._

_I was expecting an answer like, 'Go away.' or 'Yeah, I'm fine, but your face isn't.' Instead I got,_

_"Do you think they'd be proud?" His voice was small, he sounded like he was eight years old. He only ever sounded like that once before, and I had known him for two years. He was talking about his parents._

_"Yeah, of course they'd be proud." I reassured him and I sat down on the edge of his bed. His parents had become EVOs the year of the event, and at fourteen years old, he had to watch his parents get shot down like animals by some renegade hunters. He wouldn't talk about it, but I knew he still had nightmares about that night._

_"How could they be proud? I becoming a Providence agent, I'm turning into someone who kills EVOs. I'm turning into the people who killed them. I becoming a monster" He sounded like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown._

_"You're not becoming a monster Jonas." I said as I put a comforting hand on his arm._

_"Yes, I am."_

_"No. You're. Not. You're becoming a hero, a protector." I said sternly._

_"Yeah, a protector of the innocent and the weak, an EVO vanquisher!" His words were phrased exactly like a brochure, and I had to hold back a laugh._

_"No you idiot. It doesn't have to be like that. You're still going to be a protector, but it doesn't have to center around humans."_

_"An EVO protector?" He asked shyly._

_"Exactly." I knew I had said the right thing, because he quit starring at the ceiling and met my gaze. I could see a spark of hope dance behind his dark green eyes. He finally understood what Providence could stand for. It was something someone could believe in. A noble cause and something he could use to make his parents proud of him. Not that they needed a reason in the first place._

_"They would have liked you, Travis." His words caught me off guard, but they still brought a smile to my lips._

The memory flashed before my eyes like a movie reel. I finally understood why his mask was so important to him. Every time he put it on, he was reminded that he was making his parents proud.

I immediately uncurled my hands from the soft fabric, and smoothed out the wrinkles I had created. It meant so much to him, the least I could do was show some respect.

He probably would have punched me if he found out that I had wrinkled his mask at all, but there wasn't a lot he could do about it, considering he was in a coma.

I stopped that line off thought in its tracks. I was supposed to be the smart one. Thinking about his condition wouldn't help anything. I was already terrified that he wouldn't wake up, and what made it worse was the fact that I hadn't even been that scared when we went on our first mission...

_"You're scared, aren't you?" Jonas asked me with a playful smile. I merely glared at him and tightened my grip on the sides of my seat._

_"I knew it. You're totally scared." He declared proudly, unaware that we were being watched by the other Providence grunts, ones with much more experience than us. There were only four newbie agents on the mission, and I didn't know who the other ones were._

_"No I'm not!" I hissed through clenched teeth and I elbowed him hard in the stomach. He grunted and leaned forward a bit, and his hand went to rub his side. My hands went from my seat to my harness. It reminded me of a rollercoaster harness, except it was actually safe, and it was the only thing keeping me from freaking out._

_"No need to get all defensive." He huffed._

_"I am not being defensive!" I snapped back, getting lost in our usual banter._

_"So, what do you call what you were just doing?"_

_"Correcting you." I replied automatically._

_"How so?"_

_"I'm not scared."_

_"Then you're braver than me."_

_"What do you mean?" I asked, confused._

_"I'm scared shitless." He admitted, looking sheepish._

_"Shitless isn't a word."_

_"Is that seriously all you got from that entire conversation, and I'll have you know, shitless is totally a word!" He said with a slight bewilderment._

_"No it's not." I protested._

_"Yes it is. It's a state of being without shit." He said, obviously proud of his definition._

_"OK, use it in a sentence without the word 'scared'." I challenged._

_"Fine. This Jump-jet is shitless."_

_"No it's not."_

_"What do you mean?" He asked and I had a brief feeling of déjà vu._

_"The Jump-jet has shit in it." I insisted._

_"Where?"_

_"Right there." I said as I pointed at him, "You're full of shit, because shitless isn't a word."_

_"Hey!" He yelled, and I heard a few of the older agents, chuckle. I swore I heard Jonas mumble something about a dictionary._

_"SUIT UP!" The overhead speaker blared, interrupting us, and the funny thing was that I wasn't scared anymore._

I smiled as I remembered. Our first mission went off without a hitch and we managed to secure three EVOs. White Knight even congratulated our unit on a job well down.

My thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. Our unit chief walked in.

Richard Matthews was what you would expect him to be. He had short cropped blonde hair and was about the size of a small truck. Either he was dipped in toxic waste as a child or he or had been bench pressing since he was five, because had the biggest muscles I had ever seen.

The best thing about Matthews was his attitude. He was one of those people who knew what he stood for and he knew how to protect his own, and the entire unit was his. We had lost two in our latest mission and about eight were injured, but compared to others, we were lucky. So, Matthews was not a happy camper.

"White wants everybody to give their own debrief." Matthews said quietly.

"And?" I asked, my voice sounded horrible, even to me. It was scratchy and weak.

"You need to head back to HQ for a bit, to give your side of the story. White wants to see where the mission went wrong, and who the mole is." From his tone, I knew he already had his opinion of what White's assessment would become. White was looking for a scapegoat. Better to blame one grunt, rather than the head of Providence. It was his fault this had happened. He had known it was a suicide mission. He had known about the mole.

White Knight didn't care about nameless foot soldiers.

"With all due respect sir, no." I said a little louder and I stood up to face him head on.

"Do I need to make it an order?" Matthews asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It wouldn't do you any good." I replied stubbornly. There was no way I would be leaving my friend any time soon.

"You do realize that he'll try to pin some of it on you?"

"Let him try." Matthews started at me as if I was the bravest or the dumbest person he had ever met, and he merely shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave.

"Well, I tried." He muttered, with a grin. He only came to see me as a formality, if he really wanted me to head back to HQ, he would have gotten me back to HQ. Dead or alive, it would have happened.

"Get some rest, kid." He said gently, and he left the room. That wasn't likely with all the trips down memory lane, and I sighed and sat back down in my chair.

"Wake up." I ordered Jonas, and I was assaulted with another memory...

_"Move!" I yelled as the EVO came closer. She was just as creepy as we were lead to believe._

_Her hair was black and it hid her eyes, but not her smile. Which I could have lived without, it sent major shivers down my spine. She had four arms, two big ones, and two small ones, and she wore what looked like an old school uniform. Breach. One of the most dangerous EVOs out there._

_Someone had leaked our attack plans. Vlan Kliess had been waiting for us, and he sent sent Breach to finish us off._

_A portal opened off to my left and I saw a man from our unit, named Johnson, get swallowed by it. I jumped out of the way as another portal opened next to me, and I fired at Breach._

_She let out a screech and returned fire with portals. I backed away, and I felt the warehouse shutter. Florescent lights fell from the roof, shattering, and I knew that the building was coming down._

_"We need to get out!" I yelled, but it was lost in the sea of voices and gun fire. Then, Jonas appeared beside me. His mask was still on, but I could tell he was worried._

_"We need to get out." I repeated. My mask muffled me a little, because my com-link had been broken._

_"Got it. Let's drag out who we can!" He yelled and together we slung our guns across our backs and ran to our fallen comrades._

_I saw Jonas go to one of the few girls there and throw her over his shoulders, and grab another under the arms, to drag him out of the building. He looked like he was having issues with the man he was dragging, but I had myself to worry about._

_I forced myself to focus on what I was doing and I ran in the opposite direction. I grabbed a man and picked him up. He was heavy, but I could handle it._

_I started to carry the nameless grunt to the exit and I heard a yell behind me, making me freeze._

_"You're leaving? I thought we were still playing." Breach said using her childlike voice._

_"Travis! Run!" I heard Jonas yell, and I pulled myself out of my stupor and ran. My feet pounded against the concrete as I went, and the man in my arms was gaining weight with each step I took. I could only image what the guys could have been eating._

_I didn't even remember half of my jog, but I found my self outside the warehouse, surrounded by Providence. I felt someone take the injured man from my arms, but the action was lost on me. My eyes started to scan the crowd to see if Jonas had made it, and I felt my heart speed up when I didn't see him. He was still inside._

_I spun around, ready to go get him, when the building collapsed._

_"JONAS!" I screamed._

My eyes snapped open, and I tried to shake the sounds of the building collapsing out of my mind. Memory lane had just taken a dark turn.

I started to rub my hand through my hair, making it messier than it already was, and then, I heard a voice. For a minute I thought I was going crazy.

"Whatcha doin'?" The voice asked. My head jerked upward, and I saw Jonas staring at me with a big grin on his face. It was a weak one, but it was still there. My friend was awake, and alive. Relief flowed through me, and for a minute it didn't matter that we were just nameless soldiers, because we had survived. Apparently sometimes, there are happy endings.

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><p>AN- That's it. It was more angsty than what I normally do, but whatever. (By the way, the reason Rex didn't show up because there is no way that he can be at every EVO take down.) /shitless is an actually word- look it up./


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